The Visit
by Athena Leonharte
Summary: Faculty story, you know that really great film. Please enjoy


The visitBy Athena Leonharte   
  
It had been years since she had been in this place, a place that brought back memories of pain and hurt. Nothing much had changed, still familiar to those five years past. A sort of welcoming and yet in it's own way slightly intimidating place, that could make a man cry. The memories of this place came flooding back, some good some bad and she remembered how in the darkness of the night she had stole here, and left her troubles behind her, freedom for a few hours from the troubles that had haunted her soul. As she sat in the chair, like she had so many times previously and stared into the eyes of the man that signified so much, she remembered. Hurt, Pain and Anguish gripped her form and left her crippled and weak. Shaking violently they came, the fat drops of hidden fear and pain. She cried, for herself, for the memories and for the end of it all.  
  
The hidden horrors that had eaten her away, left her a shell of what she had been, what she should have been. Inside a great battle raged, each emotion and hurt fighting against the tears, what they had taught her to be wrong. At each breath more came in a flood, escaping years of bottled emotion, as if her whole body had run riot, the tears took control. Streaming down her face in a cascade of relief, down her cheeks, resting on the end of her nose and clinging to the bottom of her face. Shivers ran up her spine, as she poured out what had been kept for years, each tear a symbol of a hurt she had faced. She cried an ocean.  
  
His soft eyes were patient, yet secretly surprised at this outburst. This woman had just sat down and had broken down into a quivering heap within moments. What had appeared so strong and different to the last meeting past, was now worse than ever, not able to mutter a word without the water escaping. Something was seriously wrong and as he watched his old friend crumble, he swore to help her in whatever way he could.  
  
She eventually stopped and made a few mumbled apologises to him to which he simply replied, "You are allowed to cry here." So simple, and yet she had to come here to be allowed to cry. At each mention of her past, she shattered again, until she was no longer in control of her body, her mind numb and alien to her form. He made her relax, and as she lay there curled in a ball, a sudden sense of comfort surrounded her, "This too shall pass." Written largely on the wall she pulled herself together, filled with urges to return to her familiar abode. She wanted to wash, wash away her troubles and feel clean. However, the soothing sensation of the soap would not take away, what was hidden inside, and today was the start of drawing it out. She wanted to be happy.  
  
As she stood to leave, he embraced her warmly and whispered the most comforting words possible. "If you need me just give me a ring and I'll come, if needed I'll come and get you, but never feel alone." Once again the tears ran freely and he let her out the back door, hiding her shame from the next client. Outside now of the room, she sucked in the air, and gathered her pieces that she had lost. Now picked up and put back together she was once again what she had always appeared to be. Jessica left the building, pushing Zeke out of her mind in a futile attempt not to cry, she wanted him so much and they could never be together, twisted fate had made it that way.  
  
Pedal pressed to the floor, car in top gear Zeke raced down the road, but a blur to the passers by. A black lightening streak on the sky that was the road. The smell of burning rubber filled the air and skid marks could be seen where he took a sharp bend. Window open, his hair flapped in the wind as he pushed the car to the height of it's limits and beyond. The engine roared in dispute as it was made go over the edge, but he didn't care, he needed this rush, he needed to drive fast, the further away the better. As he dared the car to make the sharp swerve a thought struck him, "what am I running from?"  
  
Switching pedals with ease, he jammed on the brakes, the smoke billowing from the brake shoes. The car responded, stopping dead in the middle of the road, his body still filled with the momentum, only the seat belt to hold him from a certain death. Plummeting backwards in to his seat, he grinned at the world, as if daring it to take him on. There was nothing he couldn't handle, except...  
  
Shaking his head, he denied that there was something he couldn't handle and forced the car back to it's top speed in a matter of moments. He didn't want to think about her, or what she did to him. Once again, he flew down the road like a bat out of hell, leaving a trail of smoke behind him. Faster, Faster and faster he made the car go and further and further he got away from his living nightmares. He drove for what appeared to be hours on end until eventually the car simply died. It slowed to a halt, Zeke cursing it's mere existence. Looking at the fuel gauge, he swore again realising it was empty. Opening the car door, he fell out onto the road, his legs weak from driving. Looking up at the starlit sky he thought of her and how each star represented the amount of joy she gave him, it was infinite.   
  
Sitting there alone staring at the stars, he longed for her touch, to hear her whisper his name softly. Zeke didn't want her in his thoughts, but in the living flesh. He wanted to sleep each night by her side and wake each morning with her head upon his chest. To feel loved, wanted and needed. Zeke wished for so much and received so little, but all he had he was willing to trade for one fleeting moment with her, just enough time to tell her she was his universe. For once, he realised that it wasn't so wonderful to be alone, and as he shivered slightly in the night his thoughts were filled only with images of her perfection.  
  
Interrupted by the shine of car headlights, he scrunched his eyes against the blinding light. Standing up he shook himself as if to remove all fragments of her from his memory. He turned and got back into the car, not wishing for some stranger to stop and offer help, not that he needed it anyway, especially not from some deranged motorist. Creating a false pretence of starting the engine, the lights came nearer and appeared to be slowing down, he was going to tell them what do with their help. However, the car never stopped, continuing it's seemingly never ending journey into the darkness. He breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
She seeped into his brain, like water into a sponge, at each drip absorbing more and more, becoming increasingly emphatuated. All the emotional turmoil she caused him, and yet he couldn't but help the way he felt, he couldn't deny love. He had tried to forget, ignore the heart in his chest and the voices in his head telling him to act, but to no avail. Zeke saw her every day; it was impossible to forget that she existed. Each day after school he drove, further away from her and his impulses, all left behind. He may have been stranded, but he never truly could be alone.  
  
This one motion had touched her so greatly, left her with only hollow emotions of happiness and regret. She regretted the happiness she felt and an overwhelming sense of guilt enveloped her, it wasn't fair that so much joy could create this pain. Why was life so cruel, giving her ecstasy and moments later replacing it with a morbid reality that this joy would never last. A tear slid down her cheek clinging reluctantly to her chin eventually falling to the damp ground. She hated crying with a vengeance, it never solved anything. But now as she silently wept her worries away, she saw him place his strong arms around her and whisper softly that all would be okay.  
  
Jessica began to walk; she didn't know where to but continued on in the hope that her subconscious knew. It was dark, pure ebony, not even the moon itself dared to show it's face on this ravens night. An owl flew like a ghost overhead, it's screeching breaking the silence of the dead. The ground beneath crunched and grumbled at being walked upon as she continued this midnight stroll. She stopped abruptly, inhaling the sweet essence of the earth itself. Her knees gave way and she flopped in a heap upon the frost bitten ground, her lips slightly parted the steam showing the only sign of life. Eyes springing open the clouds parted in the sky revealing the infinite stars, each brighter then the last. The North Star twinkled ominously and it made her think of him, like the rest but a beacon only to lost travellers, and was she lost.  
  
Once again standing upright, she walked on head hung low, arms wrapped tightly around her frail body in a futile attempt to keep out the bitter cold. The surrounds may have been ice, but she was warm, filled with only thoughts created by an eternal fire of love. Once again her gaze returned to the stars and she began to mutter "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, that I may have one wish tonight." She wished her silent request and strolled onwards to a fork in the path, left or right which one to choose? Keeping walking she chose neither, little trifle matters like direction were not important at times like this.  
  
Perhaps if she had told him sooner she would never be in this mess. The one man she loved, and the man she had intended to marry didn't even know she existed. It was difficult enough to see him every day without wanting to rip her heart out, but to watch him wrapped in the arms of another! How could she handle this! The answer was she couldn't, how could she ever compete with the women in his life, young attractive and seductive, everything she wasn't and wanted desperately to be. To see them together every day, holding hands, passing sweet notes in class, kissing in the hallway, oh she had paid dearly for that one. All of her attempts to break them up had failed and now as she walked into the dead of night, she knew her grim fate.   
  
Stopping, the tears once again began to flow freely, her top damp with the aches of her heart. From her pocket she pulled a knife wrapped in a piece of paper, he may as well know how she had felt, the pain and suffering she had endured for him. It slipped to the ground, and a morbid laugh escaped her lips, even her own suicide couldn't go the way she planned. Holding up the knife it glimmered in the light of the stars, revealing it's jagged and sharp edge, it would do very nicely for what she had planned. From the darkness of the clouds the moon appeared, shining down upon her last act as a human. "Life is merely an orderly decay of energy states," she reassured herself.  
  
From the depths of the shadows a figure revealed itself, the shadows clinging to it as if it were death, perhaps it was and as Jessica rammed the knife into her chest she screamed his name, echoing through the night, "ZEKE!!!" The figure stepped gingerly towards her, bending down towards her face. Her eyelids fluttered and she saw him, boyish good looks and eyes like a never ending tunnel. Smiling he raised her head and whispered softly, "It's okay, I'll take care of you." She nodded feebly; he didn't even recognise who she was! Taking the paper into his hands, he read, eyes following the writing in a linear pattern. He raised his head, face frozen in shock. Looking at her, it confirmed the letter, she was willing to die for him? And all this time he had thought it was only he who had felt this way. He had tried to deny it by going out with Kimberly, but he could never forget the reason why his heart beats within his chest.  
  
Again he spoke to her, his eyes wide in shock and voice stumbling over his own words. "I've loved you since I first saw you, I tried to ignore it, but how can I deny my heart. I'd hoped you'd feel this way too, but I'm afraid I'll wake up in my bed at home like I normally do." Using her eyes she smiled and whispered "I love you too."   
  
He lifted her up and began to walk back to his car, she really wasn't that badly hurt, only a graze upon her breast. Looking at her now, finally in his arms he kissed her softly, brushing away a stray wisp of hair. What had led him to her, he didn't know but thanked whatever it was. It had made the most important visit of his life happen, the burden had been lifted from his shoulders for now and forever.  
  
The end.   
  
  



End file.
